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Dec 30, 2012
12/12
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having said that, it has become part of our deficit negotiation. i'm troubled by the notion that we're somehow going to give a tax break to some 6,000 very fortunate americans and incur a new expense for our federal government of some $130 billion or $140 billion in the process. what are we thinking? at a time whaoef to try to -- we have to try to bring together the resources to reduce our deficit, why would we want to give a new bonus break for the wealthiest people in this country when it comes to the estate tax. at that to me would be a step backwards. i hope we are not forced into any agreement that includes it, although i stand here knowing full well that if there is an ultimate compromise there will be parts of it i find disgusting and reprehensible which i may have to swallow in the name of following a compromise to avoid the fiscal cliff. that is the nature of a compromise. i hope that one isn't included but it may be. we have to do things important for this economy and one of the most important is to make sure we extend unemployment benefi
having said that, it has become part of our deficit negotiation. i'm troubled by the notion that we're somehow going to give a tax break to some 6,000 very fortunate americans and incur a new expense for our federal government of some $130 billion or $140 billion in the process. what are we thinking? at a time whaoef to try to -- we have to try to bring together the resources to reduce our deficit, why would we want to give a new bonus break for the wealthiest people in this country when it...
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Jan 1, 2013
01/13
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we still have a deficit issue. we still have a deficit problem. what we tried to establish this morning in this vote, revenue has to be part of every solution on deficit reduction. the other side of the aisle reluctantly, after years of resisting it, came to our side in the early morning hours. that's number one. number two, we need to take an honest look at entitlements. here's what the facts are: social security untouched, unamended, unchanged will make every promised payment for 20 years. you can't say that about any other federal program. 20 years of payments with cost-of-living adjustments every singles year, and on the 21st year, there will be a dropoff of 30% in terms of social security benefits. so we have 20 years. we can wait, we can wait five, ten, or fifteen to do something about it. or maybe this year, 2013. that's i'd like to to. i'm preparing legislation which will call for the creation of a commission, to come up with a plan for 75-year solvency of social security. when you have it and it's been certified to be a valid plan, report
we still have a deficit issue. we still have a deficit problem. what we tried to establish this morning in this vote, revenue has to be part of every solution on deficit reduction. the other side of the aisle reluctantly, after years of resisting it, came to our side in the early morning hours. that's number one. number two, we need to take an honest look at entitlements. here's what the facts are: social security untouched, unamended, unchanged will make every promised payment for 20 years....
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Dec 30, 2012
12/12
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what happened was the greatest prosperity in modern history. 23 million jobs, no more deficits, we got to a balanced budget and i remember saying to my husband my goodness, what's going to happen? there won't be any more u.s. government bonds because we're going to be out of the debt situation. we saw -- we saw it on the horizon when george w. bush became president, he decided to go back, backwards on rates across the board from the wealthiest to the middle to the poor, and he put two wars on a credit card and we are where we are where we are. and to add to this history, we all know that we're coming out of the worst recession since the great depression. it has been difficult, led by, unfortunately, some unscrupulous people on wall street who created a nightmare in the housing market. i remember saying to treasury secretary paulsen can you explain the rule of derivatives here and what happened and how we got into this crisis? and he put his head in his hands, mr. president, and he said not now. i'll talk to you later. now, that's not a very encouraging thing when the secretary of the t
what happened was the greatest prosperity in modern history. 23 million jobs, no more deficits, we got to a balanced budget and i remember saying to my husband my goodness, what's going to happen? there won't be any more u.s. government bonds because we're going to be out of the debt situation. we saw -- we saw it on the horizon when george w. bush became president, he decided to go back, backwards on rates across the board from the wealthiest to the middle to the poor, and he put two wars on a...
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Jan 1, 2013
01/13
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dropping being squeezed every year by my conservative friends on the other side of the aisle, with deficits remaining high, every dollar of sacrifice that the wealthy forego is sacrifice that we will later be asking of real middle-class, modest-income americans. every dollar that the top 2% of taxpayers do not pay under this deal, we will eventually ask folks of modest means to foreg forego -- to forego in social security or medicare or medicaid or head start benefits or other items that benefit the real middle class. i believe it is gravely shortsighted to look at these issues in isolation from each other, especially since the republicans have made crystal clear they intend to seek mandatory spending cuts just two months from now using the debt limit as leverage. so number three, why in this deal do we make the tax benefits for the rich permanent while the progressive tax benefits we put in place in 2009 to help people of modest means, why are those temporary? for example, the estate taxes that benefit the wealthiest are made permanent. the earned income tax credit that affects the lower i
dropping being squeezed every year by my conservative friends on the other side of the aisle, with deficits remaining high, every dollar of sacrifice that the wealthy forego is sacrifice that we will later be asking of real middle-class, modest-income americans. every dollar that the top 2% of taxpayers do not pay under this deal, we will eventually ask folks of modest means to foreg forego -- to forego in social security or medicare or medicaid or head start benefits or other items that...
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Dec 31, 2012
12/12
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there was going to be no deficit reduction. unbelievable, unbelievable that all the money was going to be out the door as soon as it came in. as a matter of fact, before it came in, it was going to be spent. so, mr. president, i just want to say i know the president enjoys heckling and having pep rallies to try to get congress to act instead of sitting down and actually negotiating, but i hope that what's going to happen is we will end up following through on the reductions in spending that need to take place to replace this sequester. i will also add just for what it's worth the last time we extended unemployment insurance, we paid for it. the last time we did not cause the doc fix s.g.r. to go into place, we paid for it. and i hope that as this negotiation goes forth, we keep the same principles in place that we've had. this country has over $16 trillion in debt. sequester was put in place because we couldn't reach an agreement on reductions, but we knew they had to take place. and, mr. president, i hope we will continue to h
there was going to be no deficit reduction. unbelievable, unbelievable that all the money was going to be out the door as soon as it came in. as a matter of fact, before it came in, it was going to be spent. so, mr. president, i just want to say i know the president enjoys heckling and having pep rallies to try to get congress to act instead of sitting down and actually negotiating, but i hope that what's going to happen is we will end up following through on the reductions in spending that...
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Jan 1, 2013
01/13
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, structural deficits that undermine the soundness of our future finances. in addition, the bill that we considered last night created some additional fiscal cliffs in the very near future, within two months, within march. and one is that it doesn't address the debt ceiling. now, debt ceiling isn't about what we spend, not about the decisions on what we spend, it's whether or not we're going to pay the bill after the spending has been authorized. it's like saying to yourself, you know, when the credit card bill comes, i'm just not going to pay it. because i shouldn't have spent so much money. that's what the debt ceiling is. not to pay the bills you've already incurred. well, what happened the last time that we had this controversy is our national credit rating was diminished and that means when you borrow money, you have to pay more so we shot ourselves in the foot to no purpose. the time to make the decision over what you spend is when you're making the spending decision, not when the bill arrives later. you've already made that commitment. you're already
, structural deficits that undermine the soundness of our future finances. in addition, the bill that we considered last night created some additional fiscal cliffs in the very near future, within two months, within march. and one is that it doesn't address the debt ceiling. now, debt ceiling isn't about what we spend, not about the decisions on what we spend, it's whether or not we're going to pay the bill after the spending has been authorized. it's like saying to yourself, you know, when the...
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Dec 31, 2012
12/12
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we were paying down the deficit. things were going well under bill clinton, under that tax system, and that's what we'll go back to tomorrow. what's so bad about that? well, what's happened is in the last ten years a lot of people have gotten very rich in this country. very rich. and now they want to protect their wealth. and that's what they want to do. they want to lock in this system on estate taxes and lower tax rates up to $450,000 or $500,000 or a million or whatever they want. they want to lock that in. i think it's time for them to start paying their fair share, and they did under the clinton tax provisions that we had in place at that time. so to go back to the tax provisions that we had under bill clinton doesn't frighten me one bit. but now we hear the same song and dance from the republicans. if we do that, the sky's going to fall. the world will end tomorrow. the markets will just go all to heck. we heard that in 1993, and it was wrong. we're hearing it again today about what will happen if we go back to
we were paying down the deficit. things were going well under bill clinton, under that tax system, and that's what we'll go back to tomorrow. what's so bad about that? well, what's happened is in the last ten years a lot of people have gotten very rich in this country. very rich. and now they want to protect their wealth. and that's what they want to do. they want to lock in this system on estate taxes and lower tax rates up to $450,000 or $500,000 or a million or whatever they want. they want...
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Dec 29, 2012
12/12
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board, and my argument to that, i guess, the gentleman left, is that i don't think right now with the deficit that either my law firm or investment banks in wall street need the corporate tax cuts. target the corporate tax cuts to areas that are engines of economic growth, and so i'm sympathetic to tax incentives if they can be tied to accountability for companies to actually invest in other communities and create jobs. next question? >> talking about tax incentives, on the other side, won't it be okay to peoplize too many -- or, i guess that's not quite the right word, but to have, you know, to tax the import for that discourages imports and encourages the locals manufacturing? >> well, that's a big debate about how much protectionism we should have as a country. i mean, my view is that if the competition is there, i think americans can compete with any goods, and we should not be -- we should not discourage healthy competition. the problem is what happens if the competition is up fair. i talk about the story of solyndra, a political football. everybody says the department of energy gave sol
board, and my argument to that, i guess, the gentleman left, is that i don't think right now with the deficit that either my law firm or investment banks in wall street need the corporate tax cuts. target the corporate tax cuts to areas that are engines of economic growth, and so i'm sympathetic to tax incentives if they can be tied to accountability for companies to actually invest in other communities and create jobs. next question? >> talking about tax incentives, on the other side,...
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Dec 26, 2012
12/12
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house and everything that happened after that, the fight's over the budget and the debt ceiling and a deficit-reduction, also the reading and what happened in egypt and libya, and so i'm looking at how obama made the decisions he made and why he took the actions he took in that very perilous time politically but i also explained how this is all done in a way to set up the 2
house and everything that happened after that, the fight's over the budget and the debt ceiling and a deficit-reduction, also the reading and what happened in egypt and libya, and so i'm looking at how obama made the decisions he made and why he took the actions he took in that very perilous time politically but i also explained how this is all done in a way to set up the 2
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Dec 31, 2012
12/12
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part of the budget that's driving this -- it's not a part of the spending budget that's driving the deficit and debt much that's being driven by the growth in entitlements, which are becoming particularly for a good reason, which is that the american people are living longer, therefore taking much more money out of programs like medicare than they put in, and i suppose for reasons that are not so good, which is the cost of health care continues to go up. so we proved ourselves incapable of dealing with this crisis as part of the normal process of compromise, and so we created this cliff which was intentionally made so harmful that our assumption was that we would not allow ourselves to go over the cliff. because it would be so hurtful. and, again, that's why i say no deal, in this case, is not better than a bad deal. no deal is the worst deal because it means we go over the cliff. why isual thi is all this happe? for a lot of reasons. but one is that there are groups within both great political parties who are defending the status quo, who don't want the situation as it exists now, which ha
part of the budget that's driving this -- it's not a part of the spending budget that's driving the deficit and debt much that's being driven by the growth in entitlements, which are becoming particularly for a good reason, which is that the american people are living longer, therefore taking much more money out of programs like medicare than they put in, and i suppose for reasons that are not so good, which is the cost of health care continues to go up. so we proved ourselves incapable of...
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Dec 31, 2012
12/12
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the tax cut deal, the big fights over the budget and the debt ceiling and deficit reduction, also the bin laden raid and what happened in egypt and libya. and so i'm looking at how obama made the decisions he made and took, and why he took the actions he took in that very perilous time politically, but also explain how this is all done in a way to set up the 2012 campaign that we just went through. he had a theoryf
the tax cut deal, the big fights over the budget and the debt ceiling and deficit reduction, also the bin laden raid and what happened in egypt and libya. and so i'm looking at how obama made the decisions he made and took, and why he took the actions he took in that very perilous time politically, but also explain how this is all done in a way to set up the 2012 campaign that we just went through. he had a theoryf
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Dec 25, 2012
12/12
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the tax cut deal, big fights over the budget and the debt ceiling and deficit reduction and also the bin laden grade and reagan but happened in egypt and libya. so i'm looking at how obama made the decisions he made and why he took the actions he took in that very perilous time politically would also explain how this is all done in a way to set up the 2012 campaign that we just went through. he had a theory indy to do big hit in 2010, yet the theory that he could make the 2012 race a choice not just between him and mitt romney but a choice between different ideologies and different approaches to government and values. everything he did in that timeframe he kept trying to tether to this big idea. when i wrote the book of course we didn't know how things were going to end up on november 6, 2012. i looked at how he developed his governing strategy and electoral strategy and it really dominated. this is the back story to what happened with this presidential campaign. >> david corn, showdown is his most recent book and we are here at the national press club.
the tax cut deal, big fights over the budget and the debt ceiling and deficit reduction and also the bin laden grade and reagan but happened in egypt and libya. so i'm looking at how obama made the decisions he made and why he took the actions he took in that very perilous time politically would also explain how this is all done in a way to set up the 2012 campaign that we just went through. he had a theory indy to do big hit in 2010, yet the theory that he could make the 2012 race a choice not...
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Dec 31, 2012
12/12
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we have a deficit that's not controllable. we've got to bring our deficit into better control. that means we need to reduce spending and we need the revenues in order to be able to give the right blueprint for america's future and growth. we also need to get a broader package done because of predictability. the private sector needs to know what the rules are. they need to know what the tax code is going to look like. they need to know what the spending programs are going to look like. they need to have confidence that we have our budget under better control. we should have gotten that done. i've spoken several times on the floor about we should have adopted the simpson-bowles framework. to me, that was a bipartisan balanced approach for how we could have gotten out of our fiscal problems. we're not going to be able to get that done in the next two days before we adjourn on january 2. but we need to recognize that we need to do that. now, mr. president, i've heard a lot of my colleagues come to the floor. i've had to clarify a couple of points. simpson-bowles was basically a $4
we have a deficit that's not controllable. we've got to bring our deficit into better control. that means we need to reduce spending and we need the revenues in order to be able to give the right blueprint for america's future and growth. we also need to get a broader package done because of predictability. the private sector needs to know what the rules are. they need to know what the tax code is going to look like. they need to know what the spending programs are going to look like. they need...
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Dec 31, 2012
12/12
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so you're not reducing the deficit. you're using new revenues, this revenue that's been campaigned on now for a year is being used not to reduce deficits but to keep spending cuts that have already been agreed to from happening. now, i don't know. i don't think there are many people on either side of the aisle that would think that is a very good idea. and so now what the president is doing is holding hostage -- holding hostage -- this agreement on taxes for all americans, he's holding that hostage to sort of pay for these -- to keep from doing the spending reductions that we've already agreed to. i don't know if most american americans -- i know they listen to us. i don't know if they quite yet understand what's happening. but i hope that's the case. mr. president, i'm going to just be -- say a couple more things. i -- i listened to the president yesterday on david gregory "meet the press," and i know he talked about the $1 trillion in spending reductions that he's offered up. which, by the way, i applaud. the problem
so you're not reducing the deficit. you're using new revenues, this revenue that's been campaigned on now for a year is being used not to reduce deficits but to keep spending cuts that have already been agreed to from happening. now, i don't know. i don't think there are many people on either side of the aisle that would think that is a very good idea. and so now what the president is doing is holding hostage -- holding hostage -- this agreement on taxes for all americans, he's holding that...
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Dec 31, 2012
12/12
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to really get our deficit and our debt under control. that's the type of deal that i favor, and it's the kind of deal that we have got to get to, but if we can't do it all at once, let's do it in pieces. as the old saying goes, even the longest journey begins with a single step. well, if the first step is this tax deal, let's get going. to break the logjam, let's start with this piece, a tax deal that will ensure that taxes are not increased for middle-class americans. that is something we can and we must do. does it involve compromise? yes, it does, of course. for example, i think we should extend the current tax rates for all taxpayers. real revenue comes from economic growth, not higher taxes. and by closing loopholes and limiting deductions, we can create a simpler, fairer tax code that will help our economy grow. president obama, however, has a different view, so we're forced to find common ground, and in this case that means extending the tax rates that we can to help as many americans as possible avoid higher taxes. we also need t
to really get our deficit and our debt under control. that's the type of deal that i favor, and it's the kind of deal that we have got to get to, but if we can't do it all at once, let's do it in pieces. as the old saying goes, even the longest journey begins with a single step. well, if the first step is this tax deal, let's get going. to break the logjam, let's start with this piece, a tax deal that will ensure that taxes are not increased for middle-class americans. that is something we can...
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Jan 1, 2013
01/13
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still going to be looking to see where the deficit reduction is, but deficit reduction package, it will not accept $24 billion in savings in agriculture, and now instead puts in place policies that will take us in the exact opposite direction. it's very, very unfortunate, and i have been spending the day expressing grave concerns, i will continue to do that. there is absolutely no reason this can't be fixed before the proposal comes to this body. it absolutely can be fixed. people of goodwill in agriculture have worked together. every step of the way, certainly in this chamber and we can continue to do that if there is a desire to do it, and i hope that there is because there is a tremendous amount at stake. and let me say again, 16 million people across our country pay their bills because of income that they received through agriculture for the food industry. small fearps, large farmers. they want the certainty of a five-year farm bill, and they also want to know that we're working together with their interests in mind. i hope we can still see that happen. thank you, mr. president. i w
still going to be looking to see where the deficit reduction is, but deficit reduction package, it will not accept $24 billion in savings in agriculture, and now instead puts in place policies that will take us in the exact opposite direction. it's very, very unfortunate, and i have been spending the day expressing grave concerns, i will continue to do that. there is absolutely no reason this can't be fixed before the proposal comes to this body. it absolutely can be fixed. people of goodwill...
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Dec 31, 2012
12/12
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deficits are not your friend. we hang in the balance up here, and nobody is serious about it. what's the one thing that's been taken off the table? spending. we will not cut any spending. so we're looking for a deal that will raise taxes, which everybody seems to equate with drowning, except we're only going to make a few people drown and they're rich anyway. but i think drowning is a policy. drowning, even if it's selective drowning. being in favor of selective drowning is not a good policy. so what i've asked and what i ask people is let your representatives now. let your senators know that you'd rather have some kind of serious fix to the problem rather than kicking the can down the road. you'd rather have them actually do something that would allow the economy to grow, would allow jobs to be created and as a consequence government will bring in more revenue. the only thing proven to ever bring in more revenue up here, economic growth. what's going on right now? we're growing at a little under 2%. when the president two years ago extended all the tax rates and chose not to
deficits are not your friend. we hang in the balance up here, and nobody is serious about it. what's the one thing that's been taken off the table? spending. we will not cut any spending. so we're looking for a deal that will raise taxes, which everybody seems to equate with drowning, except we're only going to make a few people drown and they're rich anyway. but i think drowning is a policy. drowning, even if it's selective drowning. being in favor of selective drowning is not a good policy....